Jawanza Poland #5 of the South Florida Bulls drives to the basket against Alex Dragicevich #12 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the quarterfinals of the Big East Men’s Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 8, 2012 in New York City. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images)
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NEW YORK (AP) — Eric Atkins scored all six of his points in overtime and No. 23 Notre Dame beat South Florida 57-53 on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.
The third-seeded Fighting Irish (22-10) will play seventh-seeded Louisville in the semifinals on Friday night at Madison Square Garden. The Cardinals (24-9) beat second-seeded and ninth-ranked Marquette 84-71.
It will be a rematch of last year’s semifinal that saw Louisville advance to the championship game, where it lost to Connecticut.
Pat Connaughton and Jerian Grant both had 12 points for Notre Dame, which will be making its fifth semifinal appearance but has never made it to the title game.
Victor Rudd Jr. had 16 points for the sixth-seeded Bulls (20-13), who advanced to the quarterfinals with a win over Villanova, the farthest they have ever gone in the conference tournament.
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